dedicated to Ptolemy II. Only fragments of the Aegypticae
have survived, but the work was extensively quoted by
other writers of the period and is therefore known.
Manetho discussed Egypt’s dynasties, deities, and individ-
uals of note. He listed some 30 dynasties, including per-
sonal and throne names of each ruler.
Manetho also wrote approximately seven other
works, including The Sacred Book, On Festivals, An Epit-
ome of Physical Doctrine, On Ancient Ritual and Religion,
On The Making of Kyphhi (incense), and Criticisms of
Herodotus.He may have also written The Book of Sophis.
See also KING LISTS; MANETHO’S KING LIST.
Manethon(fl. third century B.C.E.) Religious counselor
of the Ptolemaic Period
He advised PTOLEMY I SOTER(304–284 B.C.E.). Ptolemy I
was attempting to unite the Egyptian and Greek deities
and religious practices to consolidate the people in acts of
worship and cultic celebrations. Manethon, famed for his
historical knowledge, was asked by Ptolemy I to assist in
this process. With TIMOTHEUS, an Athenian, Manethon
advised the adoption of SERAPIS(Osiris-Apis, or Osarapis)
as the patron of the dynasty. The cult of Serapis contained
the traditional aspects of Egyptian worship but provided
the Greek citizens of the Nile Valley with familiar reli-
gious elements. The SERAPEUM(1) emerged as a result of
this adoption. Manethon also compiled the sacred records
of Egypt for the LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA.
Manetho’s King List The work of the historian
MANETHOfrom SEBENNYTOS, Egypt, who lived during the
Ptolemaic Period (c. 280 B.C.E.), Manetho’s list, included
in his work Aegypticae,divided Egypt into approximately
30 dynasties or royal lines of rulers. Scholars use
Manetho’s Aegypticae in conjunction with the TURIN
CANONand other chronological records discovered in the
various tombs and monuments of Egypt. Although it did
not survive as a complete manuscript, it was excerpted
enough by other ancient historians that it could be recon-
structed.
See also KING LISTS.
Mansion of Isden A sacred site located in the mytho-
logical and cosmological Great PRIMEVAL MOUND, the site
of creation, the Mansion of Isden is depicted in temple
reliefs at EDFU. There is an accompanying text there that
indicates that the first creation gods of Egypt discovered
the mansion on the Primeval Mound. The Mansion of
Isden was in ruins when the first gods arose in the acts of
creation. The original purpose of the mansion is not
known, but it remained a cultic site of importance in ritu-
als throughout Egypt’s historical periods.
“Man Who Tired of Life” See “DEBATE OF A MAN
WITH HIS SOUL.”
Mareotis An important lake in the Delta region of the
Lower Kingdom of ancient Egypt now called Lake
Maryet, the site was popular in the Ptolemaic Period
(304–30 B.C.E.) as a vacation area and as an agricultural
resource. Villas and plantations were maintained there
with fruit trees, olive groves, and fields. Fresh water from
the Canopic branch of the Nile fed the lake in all seasons.
Lake Mareotis connected the great city of ALEXANDRIAto
the Nile.marriage This was the physical and emotional union
undertaken by Egyptian men and women that appears to
have conferred considerable social status, although a
semi-legal aspect becomes clearly evident only in docu-
ments dating to the periods following the fall of the New
Kingdom in 1070 B.C.E. There are no records of mar-
riages taking place in temples or in government offices,
but celebrations were held in conjunction with such
unions. In general, ancient Egyptian marriages among
commoners and lesser nobles appear to have been based
on cohabitation.
Until the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664–525 B.C.E.),
prospective grooms normally sought permission for mar-
riage from the intended bride’s father, and in the Late
Period (712–332 B.C.E.) the groom offered silver and cat-
tle as a “bride price” to put an end to a father’s claims on
his daughter. These marriage contracts appear to have
been drawn up to clarify a division of property in case of
the dissolution of the union.
Royal marriages, recorded in almost every period,
had religious and administrative aspects. Most of these
unions were designed to promote the royal cult and were
clearly based on the need to provide royal heirs who met
the blood requirements for succession. The rulers of the
first dynasties of Egypt married aristocratic Memphite
women to augment their claims and to establish connec-
tions with the local noble families. These first rulers
needed to bolster their claims to the throne, as they were
from Upper Egypt and unknown to the Delta populations
in the early eras.
Polygamy was an accepted part of royal life, designed
to ensure heirs to the throne. Normally the son of a ruler
(if there was one) married his sister or half sister and
made her his “Great Wife,” the ranking queen. He then
took other wives to ensure legitimate heirs. Consanguin-
ity was not a factor considered detrimental to such
unions, either on a moral or genetic basis. In many
instances the heir to the throne was not born of the sis-
ter-wife but of another member of the pharaoh’s retinue
of lesser queens, a process by which the possible negative
genetic effects of such unions were allayed. In later years,
rulers married foreign princesses as well, in politically
expedient unions, conciliatory gestures to allies and
buffer states. The Ptolemaic Period (304–30 B.C.E.) rulers
married only Greek women, importing them from outside226 Manethon